Greater Norman Hegemony
Many centuries ago a fierce and militaristic people known as the Normans invaded the island that was once known as Ireland. They were an imperialistic people conquering vast stretches of Europe along with much of once was Ireland, however under their rule Ireland was split up into many kingdoms and they fought among themselves allowing their opportunistic underlings to slowly encroach upon them until the Norman people had completely inter-mixed with the Irish and their rule extended no further than the regions around Dublin. However in the early 2020s the Normans once again came about in the form of a separatist organization from both Irish and English rule, fighting for their rights to have their own nation. The Normans fueled by the hatred of their leader Kevin Bourke recruited anyone who would come to their cause. Yet it wouldn't be until after the bombs fell and chaos had consumed Europe that the Normans would get their wish. History Pre-War In the Pre-war days there existed an sort of war zone that was known as Northern Ireland, more importantly Ulster. Within this tiny city the British, Irish, Protestants and Catholics all fought one another for control of the city and who should rule over the city and all of Northern Ireland as a whole, whether there ought to be a united Ireland or should the British should control a good chunk of it. All really stemmed from issues that were decades old sometimes even centuries old back when the British were making their initial moves into Ireland and the Irish were busy fighting one another. however there was one fellow who was not so happy with both the groups his name was Kevin Bourke. Kevin was an 'officer' in the Provisional Irish Republican Army, a revolutionary group dedicated to the overthrow of the British rule of Northern Ireland and the conventional government in Dublin. However Kevin had seen the brutality caused by the fighting with the British along with their Irish brethren and was sickened by what he saw and thus disavowed the PIRA and even took a few of his boys with him. These men took off into the countryside and settled in the town of Letterkenney where they formed an organization called the Normans, for the restoration of the true rule of Ireland to its rightful owners; the Normans, no matter how hypocritical their cause was. They united with the many descendants of the Normans and were soon fighting for control of the nation just as much as the PIRA or the British were. The Normans were however considered small fry by the other liberation groups in Ireland and were vastly ignored until on October 23, 2234 sleeper agents within every major Irish Republican group assassinated the heads of their respective organizations and who was left to grow? The Normans. They began a violent campaign against the Irish and the English, bombing government buildings, ambushing convoys and all the while taking generous arms donations from the People's Republic of China whom were given a hollow promise of his and his organizations dedication to the people's revolution. The War The Normans became rather successful in their mission to create for themselves a homeland within Erie itself when the Great War began. Prior to this the map of Europe had been torn apart as countries wasted away trying to sieze the last bits of oil left. The fact that the US and China began nuking one another didn't change anything beyond the fact that the nations of Europe opened up their nuclear, chemical and biological arsenals in order to win a final victory, they inadvertently destroyed themselves with Ireland becoming the victim of an English Biological and Chemical weapons attack having used up the last of their nuclear weapons on mainland Europe. The Normans took to whatever shelter they could find, it turned out they had access to a small shelter they had built themselves and promptly took shelter there. Surviving the Chemical weapons and the Biological attacks they emerged to a changed world, radiation from Europe and America had blanketed the land, residual chemical weapons blew around with the wind, and biological agents created horrible mutations and killed people in some of the most horrific ways. 2077-2080 The years following the emergence of the Normans from their bunker were ones of disorganization and confusion as the Normans vacated the bunker taking all they could with them and heading off into the wasteland, within this world they found a very hostile enviorment filled with residual chemical weapons wiping out whole groups of survivors as they traversed the wastes, Biological weapons that gave men horrible diseases and mixed with the radiation caused horrific mutations with some people. The mix of poison gas, mutants and raider bands took their toll on the Normans, of the 100 members that went into the bunker 75 were still standing three weeks later. These men led by Kevin arrived at some old castle ruins near Letterkenney, moving into it they found it to be completely empty. Soon the group had successfully established themselves within its confines and began to improve upon the structure and make repairs to the outer walls. Using an old Pe-war cement mixer they began to pour new walls to fill in the gaps, however the local raider gangs noticed this work project and began to make raids upon the defenses of the Normans, the fighting was usually quick and yet brutal as neither side had the ammo or the resources for prolonged gun battles yet the Norman's numbers were knocked down to 66 people as a result of the fighting. Realising that his group would soon be wiped out if this war continued between themselves and the raiders and thus a force of ten men were sent out with all the spare ammo they could find, amred to the teeth the men were ordered to wipe out the raiders. At the raider's camp they found a group of thirty raiders readying for yet another attack on their castle, acting quickly the Normans surrounded the camp and using their advantage of suprise and their better shooting abilities were able to kill a substantial amount the raiders while they were in the open and quickly sweeping into the camp they found the camp devoid of life and after killing a few raiders hiding out in their ramshackle tents and huts they began to loot the corpses, recovering plenty of ammo and a few extra weapons along with six jerry cans of gasoline. Along with these valuable supplies they discovered several slaves that had been held by the raiders and upon freeing them brought them back to the Castle. They were soon integrated into their society. The Normans gained valuable raw personnel and the raids on the castle ceased for the time being. The work on the walls continued as the Normans continued to patch walls and reinforce the existing parts, soon the castle walls were nearing completion and the keep itself began to be repaired itself. 2080-2085 With the completion of repairs upon their castle Kevin began his scheme for expansion and the eventual creation of a new nation dedicated to the Norman's and his family's rule. Kevin started by declaring himself the High King of the new Norman hegemony and declared the whole of Ireland under his control. His newly wedded wife was pregnant with his first son and he had already made a start on the great Bourke family. Elsewhere he opened the doors of La Grande Forteresse to all within the wasteland and allowing the people to freely intermingle within his group, questioning this move many of his lieutenants said he was poisoning an otherwise clear gene pool of pure Normans, Kevin justified this as his people 'cleaning the genes of other underlings' and stated how the fratenization wouldn't last long, just long enough for his army's numbers to be boosted. Out in the wasteland kevin saw a vast unconquered wasteland that his group could expand into and thus made perparations for his group to march into the wasteland and destroy the barbarians that inhabited it currently. In early 2080 the troops of the Hegemony left the walls of the castle and began to spread into the wasteland clearing out gangs of raiders, bandits and other crooks declaring the land under Norman control and a part of their newly founded kingdom. The advance stopped after going to the 30 mile limit mark set by their commanders for the expedition. The Norman troops equpped with ramsackle armor and helmets modeled after those of the Norman raiders of the ancient times dug in and waited for further orders. within the land they had conquered the masses of people who had been pent up in the castle were released and allowed to settle the conquered land as the troops on the borders setup defenses to control the border. several new towns popped up within the Norman's domain and were quickly incorporated into the Hegemony. Yet realising the extent of hs force's capabilites were limited he denied any requests for further advance into the wasteland. Within his domain the Norman culture began to re-emerge taking a central part in the world of the Hegemony, meanwhile the Normans began to locate other towns within the wasteland and began to setup friendly relations with them, setting up trade caravans to foster this friendship, sending out troops to defend the towns and defeat the violent raider gangs that harassed the small settlements. Thus setting the stage for further expansion by his successors. As the final issue of this expansion High King Kevin declared Catholicism as the official state religion. 2085-2099 During this time the Normans were scouting out the area surrounding their newly secured domain when they came upon a disturbing group forming within the wasteland. It started with a massive Caravan leaving one of the local towns near the Hegemony when the caravan was assaulted by a horde of crazed mutants and as one survivor recounted two men wearing armor, not power armor old plate metal. The supposed knights in shining armor were identified by terrified locals as the Knights of Chaos. These men were a group of survivors, nine in total that had completely accepted that the world was screwed and enjoyed that fact. They intended to keep it that way where people like them could rule over the wastes in a unending orgy of debauchery and sin, everything the Normans stood against. The Normans gathered their army and prepared to move out to attack the Knights stronghold, an old federal prison. Within this prison the Knights had contrived ways to control the feral ghouls and other mutants ot the Irish wasteland to serve as their personal army. The nine Knights were well aware of the Norman's existence and had prepared to deal the Norman's their greatest defeat and bring down one of the unifying groups in the wasteland. The Normans arrived outside the prison and made preparations to charge the fortress. In the days since their expansion the Norman army had improved their arsenal of equipment, skilled blacksmiths in La Grande Forteresse had been working hard to outfit the Normans in the traditional Norman helmets, and armoring them in chain-mail armor below kevlar vest and flak jakcets recovered from the wastes. This new Norman army was led by the illustrious and cunning Knight-Commander Dennis Fitzgerald. Commander Fitzgerald had been working his way through the ranks of the Norman army helping to escort caravans across the wastes, beating off raider attacks and helping to defeat countless raider bands. Finally as the head of the Norman army he was in command of one of the most powerful forces in this region of Erie. Fitzgerald gathered his men and setup camp for the night setting out sentries his force of 150 well trained, well armed and well equipped troops were more than prepared for whatever the Knights of Chaos could throw at them. In the morning they were met by the fearful sight of hundreds of ghouls and other abominations readying for a violent charge into their camp. Fitzgerald quickly marshaled his men, preparing his battle lines. Diving into their prepared line of fox holes and slit trenches the Normans trained their rifles on the mutant horde in front of them. The horde came rushing forward, at a blow of a whistle the grenadiers stepped forward, specially trained to sling grenades from biblical style slings. These men heaved their deadly payloads into the oncoming mutants than quickly stepped back into their cover and picked back up their weapons, setup on a small ridge Fitzgerald knew his men would have the distinct advantage in the fight to come. The Mutants started to take sniper fire, taking down the biggest and scariets ones first and a fair number of Knights were dropped turning their obedient hordes into the old ravenous monster they are. This greatly slowed the advance of the Knight's forces, they arrived at the Norman's fields of fire after much delay and struggle. The Normans opened up with the full force of their combined arsenal, mowing down the mutants in sheets, killing them by the truckload. The last of the knights were killed and their ghouls and mutants suddenly turned on one another and quickly became easy pickings for the Norman troops. This great victory was won with one 22 men losing their lives and another 35 wounded. The Normans led by Fitzgerald swept into the prison and quickly began to ransack it for useable materials, they found mostly scrap metal and a few old guns but they mostly found pagan ritual sites, pagan books and other twisted materials, Fitzgerald made the choice to have the prison burned to wipe it clean of impurity. This was done as the triumphant Normans returned to the Hegemony. In the Hegemony High King Kevin Bourke died after a long and successful rein as the Hegemony's king. His son Duke Henry replaced him. 2100-2120 During this time the Normans, led by High King Henry Bourke managed to aqcuire a large amount of chemical weapons and after testing its effects on a group of captured tribals deduced that these weapons are only to be used in the most dire of emergencies. This era also saw several towns along the Norman-wasteland border becoming apart of the Hegemony. Thanks to the efforts of his father and family the region around the Hegemony and La Grande Forteresse became quite atuned to the customs and culture of the Hegemony. Henry quickly made plans for the Hegemony to swallow up more of the region. 2120-2160 Military Weaponry Conventional For most of the Norman soldiers going into combat they are equipped with a mix of weaponry, albeit they try to stay consistent nothing can truly be the same in the post-apocalyptic world. For the most part you average Norman foot soldier is armed with an assault weapon of some sort whether it is an R91 Assault Rifle, hundreds of these were supplied to the Normans by their supporters in the United States, so they're mostly the civilian model not having an automatic function but rather a semi-auto version. Other than the R91 there is the Chinese assault Rifle, supplied by the PRC to supprt the People's revolution in Ireland. Thousands of these rifles showed up with plenty of ammo in the days leading up to the Great War enough so that the bunker the Normans had hidden in could be stocked to the brim with them and their ammo. These tow rifles are in full service with the Norman army. To add on the Normans have done a great deal of trading and scaving and have turned up on more than one occassion military grade hardware, from M2 .50 Caliber HMGs to night-vision goggles and gas masks. One particular scav mission brought back a whole truck load of radiation suits from a wrecked military convoy. The Normans have access to a great deal of specialty weapons Sniper Rifles, Anti-Material Rifles, mines and grenades albeit in limited numbers in regards to the former two. Missile Launchers are also not out of the question as their American supporters were able to get their hands on a few coming off the assembly lines, as for heavier artillery mortars and howitzers have been recovered in limited numbers from old Pre-war military bases and abandoned insurgent camps. Unconventonal For all their high end firearms the Normans still rely upon a few old weaponry ideas. For starters the soldiers known as Archers are equpped with crossbows and Bows and arrows. These ancient peices of weaponry are usually crafted by the soldier himself, having to traverse the wasteland in order to recover the materials in order to make the weapon. But when these are fully completed and in the trained hands of a speacialist, these supposed 'obsolete' weapons prove their metal as Archers suddenly become the silent killers, taking out enemy commanders in their own camps and no one but that person knowing that anyone had been shot. Other than ranged weapons the Normans foot soldiers are usually equipped with short pikes that allow them to create a wall of death for any charging enemy force. However for the most part the Normans will shove the pikes into the ground at an angle so they can gore any horses and their riders as they charge towards their lines. Its proven to be quite and effective use of the pikes. The Knights however are much different, they are given hand crafted broadswords. Specially formed by the blacksmiths back at La Grande Forteresse these deadly weapons are the nightmares of any enemy foot soldier. Tactics and Strategy The Normans are by no means a defensive minded people, however when battle comes they are known to dig in, creating vast lines of foxholes and slit trenches to help watch their lines. The best tactic the Normans have against an attacking foe is let the enemy come to them. The enemy sweeps in over the landscape and is slowly bombarded by the Normans defenses. First, mines these come in all shapes and sizes from regular land mines to plasma and pulse explosive, intermixed is a variety of charges, explosives and booby traps set to catch any idiot dumb enought to try and defuse on of the mines. Next comes the "Kill Zone" this area is reserved for allowing Snipers and Artillery to have their way with the charging enemy. Here snipers are told to pick off officers, shamans, or any kind of ring leader, also if done well enough a combination of losses from the minefield and the sniper and artillery fire may be enough to drive away whatever group has chosen to challenge the Normans. Third in line is the "porcupine" defenses, this is where foot soldiers will place down their infantry pikes to help gore whatever comes through, this mostly includes whatever diases and confused warriors make it through the previos two lines. Here the enemy impales himself on the pikes or if he's lucky enough to dodge the pikes he steps on more land mines that are interspersed throught the pikes. Finally comes the actual killing field, everything comes to bear here, grenades from the Grenadiers and machine gun fire from the dug in troops along with artillery and more sniper fire. If the enemy hasn't been broken by the previous two lines than this surley will as the full force of their arsenal comes to bear here. In an offensive senario the Normans are just as adept, they will flank, charge and encirlce whoever is brave enough to face them on the field of battle. The Normans have a special love for the Hammer-Anvil tacic, a small force, usually skirmishers and Grenadiers are sent forward and have a brief brush with the enemy, drawing them in. The invigorated enemy is met by again the well prepared defenses of the Normans and as they ensnare themselves upon these defenses the plan truly goes into action. Cavalry who have already positioned themselves in wide flanking positions quickly move in behind the main body of the enemy destroying their war camp and their supplies than slamming into the unsuspecting reserves of the enemy. These men are either so suprised by the charge they don't know how to react or are scared shitless and choose to run into their fighting brethren. This usually spreads confusion and fear among the fighting troops who try and escape but this only deepens the hole they're in and usually results in the enemy routing or surrendering. In the odd chnce that the enemy continues to resist at this point then the order is given to give no quarter and slaughter the enemy troops, sending a clear message to their families and allies back home: don't fuck with us. Ranks: Knight-Commander Knight Foot Soldier Grenadier Archers category: Ireland Category:Groups